FOCHS, ANTON:

Hungarian philanthropist; died in Budapest May 31 1874. A few years before his death he sent an anonymous letter to the administration of the Jewish community in Budapest, donating 43,000 florins for the founding of an orphan asylum. Suspected of being the donor, he denied the fact in the press; it was established only when his will was found to contain a request that the asylum be named after his parents. His large fortune (over 1,000,000 florins) he left to be distributed for the most part among humanitarian institutions without distinction of religious belief. A fund of about 60,000 florins was set aside to pay for the education of any among the orphans of his institute showing aptitude for letters or science. The considerable sum of 300,000 florins went to establish a deaf-and-dumb institute for Hungary and Transylvania, open to both sexes. His was an eccentric character: he was unmarried, incommunicative, penurious, and a recluse.